Testing Variations in the Two-Step Norm-Elicitation Procedure

Last registered on March 13, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Testing Variations in the Two-Step Norm-Elicitation Procedure
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014794
Initial registration date
November 21, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 02, 2024, 11:01 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
March 13, 2026, 5:49 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Sabrina Plaß
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-12-05
End date
2025-02-28
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
Social Norms, Normative Expectations, Personal Normative Belief, Method
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The experiment ‘Elicitation of Normative Expectations (ENE)’ examines the extent to which variations in the two-step elicitation method (e.g., Bicchieri & Xiao, 2009; Bicchieri et al. 2019; Görges & Nosenzo 2020) influence personal normative beliefs and normative expectations, i.e. the extent to which the elicitation method is robust to variations. To this end, each participant is asked about their personal normative beliefs and normative expectations regarding fairness in a dictator game. Three main characteristics are varied in eight different treatments: i) order of elicitation (before/after the task), ii) incentivization of normative expectations (yes/no), and iii) question on behavioural options (about fair share only/ about fair and selfish share). In addition, subjects participate in an online variation of the commonly used ‘Dictator Game’ to assess fairness. In the Dictator Game, participants are asked to divide the additional bonus amount of 2.5 GBP between themselves and another randomly selected participant. All participants will be paid the amount generated in the experiment (plus a ‘show-up fee’ of 1 GBP). The experiment will be conducted via the crowdworking platform ‘Prolific’ and is expected to last 7-8 minutes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Plaß, Sabrina. 2026. "Testing Variations in the Two-Step Norm-Elicitation Procedure." AEA RCT Registry. March 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14794-1.3
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-12-05
Intervention End Date
2025-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
personal normative belief, normative expectations
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
behaviour, empirical expectations
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment follows the structure of previous dictator games that use two-step norm-elicitation procedures (e.g. Bicchieri & Xiao, 2009; Xiao & Houser, 2008). Dictators can choose one of the options A-G, of which a provision of 1 GBP or 1.25 GBP (option C & D) to the receiver is referred to as a fair offer (frame between 40%-50%) and offers of 0.25 GBP or 0.5 GBP (option A & B, 20%-30%) are referred to as low share.
This study applies the strategy method, where all participants are in the role of a dictator and have to decide on a (hypothetical) option. After the decision is made, two participants are randomly paired. One is randomly chosen as the dictator, whose chosen option will be implemented, while the other becomes a receiver.
After subjects make their decisions, the experiment elicits participants’ personal normative beliefs and normative expectations (most common response) regarding the fair share (option C or D). Participants can choose whether they personally believe providing a fair share is very inappropriate, somewhat inappropriate, somewhat appropriate or very appropriate. Normative expectations are incentivized, in a way that participants will receive an additional bonus (0.25 GBP) if their answer to the question (which option do you think most of participants chose in the preceding question?) matches the correct majority answer. On the next screen, participants are asked whether they expect others to provide a fair share (yes/no, empirical expectations).
Then, three treatments will be conducted in which I implement different variations of the elicitation procedure.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
ranzomization by computer
Randomization Unit
individual subjects will be part of either the baseline treatment (T0), the pretest (P1) or one of the three different experimental treatments (T1-T3).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
I will run a Baseline Experiment, a Prestest and three different Treatments, each having about 100-120 subjects
Sample size: planned number of observations
I will run a Baseline Experiment, a Prestest and three different Treatments, each having about 100-120 subjects
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
I will run a Baseline Experiment, a Prestest and three different Treatments, each having about 100-120 subjects
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2024-11-11
IRB Approval Number
Bm3XqJ6f
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Preregistration_Analysis Plan_.docx

MD5: f7401ed0d51a77b528440bac7d115272

SHA1: 3308b88279c78af3f3f9b06259e1eb6a0494d51e

Uploaded At: November 20, 2024

Update AnalysisPlan.docx

MD5: fd3282941facc3bf818f033d2a0633f0

SHA1: e6f59f69618dc5477fd0570666e69dd6cc687f22

Uploaded At: March 11, 2025

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials